As expected with a change in the White House, and as very recently foretold in Department of Labor court filings, the Trump DOL announced via a Field Assistance Bulletin on May 1 that it will no longer enforce a 2024 Biden-era independent contractor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). While this announcement does not formally rescind the Biden-era rule, the DOL explained that it will be reconsidering the rule, and it is virtually certain that the DOL will dramatically change or replace the rule when its review is completed.
Followers of contractor and employee classification legal developments will recall that the first Trump administration issued an independent contractor rule in its final days that significantly clarified the standards for determining contractor status and generally expanded the instances in which a worker could be deemed an independent contractor. Very soon after taking office, President Biden initially attempted to delay implementation of that rule, but a federal court found that action violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The Biden administration then sought to create its own rule, which ultimately led to the rule at issue here being finalized in January of 2024. The Biden-era rule reversed much of what that first Trump administration rule had changed and generally made it harder to classify workers as independent contractors. Within days of the Biden-era rule being finalized, various businesses and freelancers initiated litigation...
JD Vance Accuses Bass and Newsom of Inciting Violence *During a tense visit to Los Angeles on Friday (06-20-25), Vice President JD Vance accused California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Ma...